Other Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Movement Responses Inform Effectiveness And Consequences Of Baiting Wild Pigs For Population Control, Nathan P. Snow, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) damage agricultural and natural resources throughout their nearly global distribution. Subsequently, population control activities (e.g., trapping, shooting, or toxic baiting) frequently involve the deployment of bait to attract wild pigs. A better understanding of how wild pigs respond to bait sites can help maximize efficiency of baiting programs and identify any potential pitfalls. We examined the movement behaviors of 68 wild pigs during three stages of intensive baiting programs (i.e., 15 days each: prior, during, and post baiting) spread across two distinct study areas in southern and northern Texas, USA. We found that bait sites needed …

Raccoon (Procyon Lotor) Response To Ontario Rabies Vaccine Baits (Onrab) In St. Lawrence County, New York, Usa, Kerri Pedersen, Amy T. Gilbert, Kathleen M. Nelson, Daniel P. Morgan, Amy J. Davis, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Dennis Slate, Richard B. Chipman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Oral rabies vaccination (ORV) campaigns have been conducted annually in the US over the past two decades to prevent raccoon (Procyon lotor) rabies, which is enzootic along the eastern region of the country from southeastern Canada to Alabama. Because raccoon rabies has been eliminated from neighboring Canadian provinces, continued detection of the variant in the US is of concern due to the potential for infected raccoons to cross the border via the St. Lawrence River. Ontario Rabies Vaccine Baits (ONRAB) containing a live, recombinant human adenovirus expressing the rabies virus glycoprotein have been under experimental use in the …

Taking The Bait: Species Taking Oral Rabies Vaccine Baits Intended For Raccoons, Betsy S. Haley, Are R. Berentsen, Richard M. Engeman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Raccoon rabies in eastern USA is managed by strategically distributing oral rabies vaccine (ORV) baits. The attractiveness, palativity, density, and non-target species bait take affect ORV effectiveness. We examined raccoon and non-target species differences in investigating/removing fish-meal polymer and coated sachet baits applied to simulate two aerial bait distribution densities. Bait densities of 150 baits/km² and 75 baits/km² were evaluated, respectively, in zones expected to have high and low raccoon densities. Three primary non-target species visited baits: coyotes, white-tailed deer, and feral swine. The proportion of bait stations visited by raccoons during 1 week observation periods ranged from …

Potential Role Of Wildlife In The Usa In The Event Of A Foot-And-Mouth Disease Virus Incursion, Vienna R. Brown, Sarah N. Bevins

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is caused by foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) which affects domestic and wild cloven-hoofed species. The FMD-free status of the USA and the tremendous economic impact of a virus incursion motivated the development of this evaluation of the potential role of wildlife in the event of a virus introduction. Additionally, this manuscript contains a summary of US vulnerabilities for viral incursion and persistence which focuses specifically on the possible role of wildlife. The legal movement of susceptible live animals, animal products, by-products and animal feed containing animal products pose a risk of virus introduction and spread. Additionally, the …

Trail Cameras Are A Key Monitoring Tool For Determining Target And Non-Target Bait-Take During Rodent Removal Operations: Evidence From Desecheo Island Rat Eradication, Aaron B. Shiels, D. Will, C. Figuerola-Hernández, K.J. Swinnerton, S. Silander, C. Samra, G.W. Witmer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Efforts to remove invasive rodents (e.g. Rattus spp. and Mus musculus) from islands often use toxicant-laced baits containing the anticoagulants brodifacoum or diphacinone. Rodenticide baits are generally delivered through aerialor hand-broadcast, or in bait stations. These baits are not rodent-specific and are subject to non-target consumption or secondary exposure (e.g. an individual preying upon another individual that has consumed bait). During rodenticide applications, it is generally unknown which animals are visiting and consuming bait; and to quantify this, we recommend using trail cameras (e.g. Reconyx^tm motion-activated infra-red) positioned to monitor individual bait pellets. To demonstrate the importance and effectiveness …

Black Bear Use Of Forest Roads In Western Washington, Gary W. Witmer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Radiolocations (108) of 20 black bears were used to assess use or avoidance of 3 forest road types in western Washington. Distances of bears to each type of road were compared to distances of 108 random points using t-tests. Females and males avoided 2-lane roads, while only males avoided 1-lane roads, the most common road type in the area. Females, but not males, were located closer to overgrown, spur roads than expected. This road type has substantial cover of grasses, forbs, and berry-producing shrubs along with protective tree cover. This situation may provide easy travel for females along with security …

Home Range And Habitat Use Of West Virginia Canis Latrans (Coyote), Lauren M. Mastro, Dana J. Morin, Eric M. Gese

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Canis latrans (Coyote) has undergone a range expansion in the United States over the last century. As a highly opportunistic species, its home range and habitat use changes with ecological context. Coyotes were first reported in West Virginia in 1950 but were not commonly observed until the 1990s, and there is scant information on Coyotes in the region. We used telemetry data from 8 radiocollared Coyotes in West Virginia to estimate home-range size and third-order habitat selection. Home-range areas (95% utilization distributions; UDs) varied from 5.22 to 27.79 km2 (mean = 12.48 ± 2.61 km2), with highly concentrated use of …

The Role Of Scavenging In Disease Dynamics, Joaquín Vicente, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Contents

Introduction................ 161

The Use of Animal Remains and the Exposure of Scavengers to Disease........ 163

The Relevance of Scavenging for Pathogens to Spread and Persist.......... 166

Human Related Factors Resulting in Increased Risk for Disease Transmission Through Scavenging.............. 170

Management of Scavenging to Reduce Disease Risks.............. 173

Restoration of Large Predators.................. 174

Elimination of Hunting of Scavengers............ 174

Destruction of Big Game and Domestic Animal Carcasses........... 174

Restoration of the Effects of Overabundance............. 175

Excluding Mammalian and Avian Scavengers from Natural Carrions.......... 176

Excluding Mammalian and Avian Scavengers from Vulture Restaurants........... 176

Conclusions and Future Perspectives........... 178

References............... 178

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles For Bird Harassment On Fish Ponds, Ciera A. Rhoades, Peter J. Allen, D. Tommy King

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The effects of aquaculture decline on piscivorous birds in the Mississippi Delta concern catfish farmers, with possible increases in fish loss and disease transmission. Piscivorous birds quickly habituate to most current methods of harassment (loud noises and visual disturbances) leading to increased depredation and disease. Our study was designed to test the efficacy of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to effectively control piscivorous birds at fish farms. We hypothesized that a UAV would be more efficient at reducing the number of fish-eating birds on fish ponds than current forms of harassment. We conducted pre-treatment bird surveys, harassment observations, and post-treatment …

Locally Fixed Alleles: A Method To Localize Gene Drive To Island Populations, Jaye Sudweeks, Brandon Hollingsworth, Dimitri V. Blondel, Karl J. Campbell, Sumit Dhole, John D. Eisemann, Owain Edwards, John Godwin, Gregg R. Howald, Kevin P. Oh, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Thomas A.A. Prowse, Joshua V. Ross, J. Royden Saah, Aaron B. Shiels, Paul Q. Thomas, David W. Threadgill, Michael R. Vella, Fred Gould, Alun L. Lloyd

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive species pose a major threat to biodiversity on islands. While successes have been achieved using traditional removal methods, such as toxicants aimed at rodents, these approaches have limitations and various off-target effects on island ecosystems. Gene drive technologies designed to eliminate a population provide an alternative approach, but the potential for drive-bearing individuals to escape from the target release area and impact populations elsewhere is a major concern. Here we propose the “Locally Fixed Alleles” approach as a novel means for localizing elimination by a drive to an island population that exhibits significant genetic isolation from neighboring populations. Our …

Modeled And Measured Ecosystem Respiration In Maize–Soybean Systems Over 10 Years, Ming Zhan, Adam Liska, Anthony Nguy-Robertson, Andrew E. Suyker, Matthew P. Pelton, Haishun Yang

Adam Liska Papers

Crop residue is an abundant resource for the potential production of biofuels, but a better understanding of its use on net carbon emissions must be developed to mitigate climate change. This analysis combines two established crop growth models (Hybrid-Maize and SoySim) with a simple soil and crop residue respiration model to estimate daily ecosystem respiration (ERe) from maize and soybean; ERe was estimated to be the sum of CO₂ emissions from the oxidation of the growing crop, crop residue, and soil organic carbon (SOC). Model-estimated CO₂ fluxes from irrigated continuous maize and irrigated maize–soybean cropping systems in eastern …

Optimizing Historic Preservation Under Climate Change: Decision Support For Cultural Resource Adaptation Planning In National Parks, Xiao Xiao, Erin Seekamp, Max Post Van Der Burg, Mitchell Eaton, Sandra Fatorić, Allie Mccreary

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Climate change poses great challenges for cultural resource management, particularly in coastal areas. Cultural resources, such as historic buildings, in coastal areas are vulnerable to climate impacts including inundation, deterioration, and destruction from sea-level rise and storm-related flooding and erosion. However, research that assesses the trade-offs between actions for protecting vulnerable and valuable cultural resources under budgetary constraints is limited. This study focused on developing a decision support model for managing historic buildings at Cape Lookout National Seashore. We designed the Optimal Preservation Decision Support (OptiPres) model to: (a) identify optimal, annual adaptation actions for historic buildings across a 30-year …

Ecosystem Processes, Land Cover, Climate, And Human Settlement Shape Dynamic Distributions For Golden Eagle Across The Western Us, J.D. Tack, B.R. Noon, Z.H. Bowen, B.C. Fedy

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Species–environment relationships for highly mobile species outside of the breeding season are often highly dynamic in response to the collective effects of everchanging climatic conditions, food resources, and anthropogenic disturbance. Capturing dynamic space-use patterns in a model-based framework is critical as model inference often drives place-based conservation planning. We applied dynamic occupancy models to broad-scale golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos survey data collected annually from 2006 to 2012 during the late summer post-fledging period in the western US. We defined survey sites as 10 km transect segments with a 1 km buffer on either transect side (n = 3540). Derived estimates …

Implementation Of An Occupancy-Based Monitoring Protocol For A Widespread And Cryptic Species, The New England Cottontail (Sylvilagus Transitionalis), Colin P. Shea, Mitchell J. Eaton, Darryl I. Mackenzie

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Context. Designing effective long-term monitoring strategies is essential for managing wildlife populations. Implementing a cost-effective, practical monitoring program is especially challenging for widespread but locally rare species. Early successional habitat preferred by the New England cottontail (NEC) has become increasingly rare and fragmented, resulting in substantial declines from their peak distribution in the mid-1900s. The introduction of a possible competitor species, the eastern cottontail (EC),may also have played a role. Uncertainty surrounding how these factors have contributed to NEC declines has complicated management and necessitated development of an appropriate monitoring framework to understand possible drivers of distribution and dynamics.

Aims. …

Coastal Wetlands: A Synthesis, Charles S. Hopkinson, Eric Wolanski, Mark M. Brinson, Daonald R. Cahoon, Gerardo M.E. Perillo

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

What are coastal wetland ecosystems, what are their limits of distribution, and where do they exist in the overall coastal landscape? There are several general definitions for wetlands, but the Ramsar definition is likely the most broadly encompassing (http://www.ramsar. org/), whereas others are more focused definitions tailored to country-specific protection and management policies (Mitsch and Gosselink, 2006). We offer a very general approach rather than a precise definition: coastal wetlands are ecosystems that are found within an elevation gradient that ranges between subtidal depths where light penetrates to support photosynthesis of benthic plants to the landward edge where the sea …

Promoting Change In Common Tern (Sterna Hirundo) Nest Site Selection To Minimize Construction Related Disturbance., Peter C. Mcgowan, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Carl R. Callahan, William Schultz, Jennifer L. Wall, Diann J. Prosser

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Due to the many challenges facing waterbird populations (Jia et al. 2018, Wetlands International 2018), it has become common practice to limit disturbance to breeding colonies whenever possible to maximize reproductive success. While this may require often unpopular management techniques including beach closures (Jorgensen et al. 2015, Mayo et al. 2015) and predator removal (Neuman et al. 2004, Stocking et al. 2017), such actions are sometimes necessary for the success of the colony. However, there are instances when eliminating disturbance is not possible and birds must be attracted to a new site. A common method for attracting waterbirds to a …

Optimizing Historic Preservation Under Climate Change: Decision Support For Cultural Resource Adaptation Planning In National Parks, Xiao Xiao, Erin Seekamp, Max Post Van Der Burg, Mitchell Eaton, Sandra Fatorić, Allie Mccreary

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Climate change poses great challenges for cultural resource management, particularly in coastal areas. Cultural resources, such as historic buildings, in coastal areas are vulnerable to climate impacts including inundation, deterioration, and destruction from sea-level rise and storm-related flooding and erosion. However, research that assesses the trade-offs between actions for protecting vulnerable and valuable cultural resources under bud- getary constraints is limited. This study focused on developing a decision support model for managing historic buildings at Cape Lookout National Seashore. We designed the Optimal Preservation Decision Support (OptiPres) model to: (a) identify optimal, annual adaptation actions for historic buildings across a …

Assessment Of Chronic Low-Dose Elemental And Radiological Exposures Of Biota At The Kanab North Uranium Mine Site In The Grand Canyon Watershed, Danielle Cleveland, Jo Ellen Hinck, Julia S. Lankton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

High-grade U ore deposits are in various stages of exploitation across the Grand Canyon watershed, yet the effects of U mining on ecological and cultural resources are largely unknown. Wecharacterized the concentrations of Al, As, Bi, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Pb, Hg, Mo, Ni, Se, Ag, Tl, Th, U, and Zn, gross alpha and beta activities, and U and Th radioisotopes in soil, vegetation (Hesperostipa comata, Artemisia tridentata, Tamarix chinensis), and rodents (Peromyscus maniculatus, P. boylii) to waste material at the Kanab North mine, a mine with decades-long surficial contamination, and compared the concentrations (P<0.01) to those at a premining site (Canyon Mine). Rodent tissues were also analyzed for radium-226 and microscopic lesions. Radioactivities and some elemental concentrations (e.g., Co, Pb, U) were greater in the Kanab North mine biological samples than in Canyon Mine biota, indicating a mining-related elemental signature. Mean rodent Ra-226 (111 Bq/kg dry weight [dry wt]) was 3 times greater than expected, indicating radioactive disequilibrium. Multiple soil sample U concentrations exceeded a screening benchmark, growth inhibition thresholds for sensitive plants, and an EC20 for a soil arthropod. Lesions associated with metals exposure were also observed more frequently in rodents at Kanab North than those at Canyon Mine but could not be definitively attributed to U mining. Our results indicate that Kanab North biota have taken up U mining-related elements owing to chronic exposure to surficial contamination. However, no literature-based effects thresholds for small rodents were exceeded, and only a few soil and vegetation thresholds for sensitive species were exceeded; therefore, adverse effects to biota from U mining-related elements at Kanab North are unlikely despite chronic exposure.

Comparison Of Gold Extraction Yields By Cyanide Treatment Vs. Bioleaching Procedure, Yilman Steven Pineda

Dissertations and Theses

Samples from the tailings of the Picacho mine in California were leached using NaCN and native bacteria, Alcaligenes faecalis, in column experiments to compare the gold recovery yields in the effluents. Four columns were treated with a different liquid: water, bacteria, NaCN and a mixture of cyanide and bacteria. After they were leached the effluents were analyzed to determine gold yields. During experiment I the total Au recovered in the effluent in the column treated with bacteria was only 10.09% less than those treated with cyanide (C2) and 81.7% more than the control. In experiment II, Au values measured were …

Exploring Community Knowledge And Perceptions Of Flooding And Sea-Level Rise In King Salmon, California, Kristina Kunkel

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The coastal community of King Salmon, California could be at the highest risk of relative sea-level rise on the entire U.S. West Coast. In 2019, the community already experiences severe flooding at least annually and may be regularly inundated as early as 2050. Until this study, there had been no documented effort to reach out to the community to show them future sea-level rise projections, understand the context of life in King Salmon, and listen to their reactions and perceptions. This research utilized a mixed methods grounded theory approach integrating semi-structured interviews with King Salmon stakeholders, qualitative data analysis, public …

A Multi-Scale Analysis Of Jaguar (Panthera Onca) And Puma (Puma Concolor) Habitat Selection And Conservation In The Narrowest Section Of Panama., Kimberly A. Craighead

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Over the past two centuries, large terrestrial carnivores have suffered extreme population declines and range contractions resulting from the synergistic anthropogenic threats of land-use change and indirect effects of climate change. In Panama, rapid land use conversion coupled with climate change is predicted to negatively impact jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor). This dissertation examined the environmental variables and scales influencing jaguar and puma habitat selection by season (annual, wet, and dry), using multi-scale optimized habitat suitability models and a machine-learning algorithm (Random Forests), in the narrowest section of Panama. The models derived from the data of an intensive …

Riparian Resilience In The Face Of Interacting Disturbances: Understanding Complex Interactions Between Wildfire, Erosion, And Beaver (Castor Canadensis) In Grazed Dryland Riparian Systems Of Low Order Streams In North Central Washington State, Usa, Alexa Whipple

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Riparian systems of low order streams in the western United States (US) provide critical ecosystem functions and services such as diverse habitat for numerous species, flood attenuation and essential water storage in water limited environments. These systems have experienced long term disturbance from anthropogenic activities including mining, timber harvest, livestock grazing and near extirpation of a keystone riparian species, Castor canadensis (North American beaver). However, increasing frequency of large-scale wildfires and climate change driven weather is altering the severity and scale of riparian disturbance, often shifting highly impacted streams to a stable degraded state, unable to store water or provide …

Home Range, Habitat Use And Thermal Ecology Of The Florida Box Turtle (Terrapene Bauri) On An Anthropogenic Island In Southwestern Florida, Christina Demetrio

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Limited information is available on the ecology of Terrapene bauri (Florida Box Turtle) in mangrove ecosystems. Radio-telemetry and iButton data loggers were used to study the home range, habitat use, and thermal ecology of ten Florida Box Turtles on an anthropogenic island in the mangrove-dominated region of southwestern Florida. The effects of weather variables on movement and activity were also examined. Home range analysis using Minimum Convex Polygons (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimates (KDE) determined an average home range size of 0.81 ha (MCP) and 2.32 ha (95% KDE). Box Turtles moved an average distance of 6.3 m per day …

The Effects Of Sediment Properties On Barrier Island Morphology And Processes: A Numerical Modeling Experiment, Brittany Kime

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Barrier island restoration and nourishment is necessary for sustaining coastal systems worldwide. In the Mississippi River Delta Plain, the lack of sediment supply, relative sea level rise, and reworking of abandoned delta lobes promote rapid disintegration of barriers, which can contribute to mainland storm impacts. Barrier island restorations that utilize higher quality sediments (Outer Continental Shelf- OCS) are expected to exhibit higher resiliency, withstanding coastal erosion, event-induced erosion, and ongoing transgression when compared to barriers nourished using lower quality nearshore (NS) sands. Additionally, use of OCS sediments increases sediment supply by adding material to the system supporting increased barrier longevity …

Seasonality Of Nitrogen Balances In A Mediterranean Climate Watershed, Oregon, Us, Jiajia Lin, Jana E. Compton, Scott G. Leibowitz, George Mueller-Warrant, William Matthews, Stephen H. Schoenholtz, Daniel M. Evans, Rob A. Coulombe

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

We constructed a seasonal nitrogen (N) budget for the year 2008 in the Calapooia River Watershed (CRW), an agriculturally dominated tributary of the Willamette River (Oregon, U.S.) under Mediterranean climate. Synthetic fertilizer application to agricultural land (dominated by grass seed crops) was the source of 90% of total N input to the CRW. Over 70% of the stream N export occurred during the wet winter, the primary time of fertilization and precipitation, and the lowest export occurred in the dry summer. Averaging across all 58 tributary subwatersheds, 19% of annual N inputs were exported by streams, and 41% by crop …

Assessing Responses Of Betula Papyrifera To Climate Variability In A Remnant Population Along The Niobrara River Valley In Nebraska U.S. Through Dendroecological And Remote Sensing Techniques, Evan Bumann, Tala Awada, Brian Wardlow, Michael Hayes, Jane A. Okalebo, C. Helzer, Anastasios Mazis, J. Hiller, Paolo Cherubini

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Remnant populations of Betula papyrifera have persisted in the Great Plains after the Wisconsin Glaciation along the Niobrara River Valley, Nebraska. Population health has declined in recent years, and has been hypothesized to be due to climate change. We used dendrochronological techniques to assess the response of B. papyrifera to microclimate (1950-2014), and satellite imagery [Landsat 5 TM (1985-2011) and MODIS (2000-2014)] derived NDVI as a proxy for population health. Growing-season streamflow and precipitation were positively correlated with raw and standardized tree-ring widths and basal area increment increase. Increasing winter and spring temperatures were unfavorable for tree growth while increasing …

Land Use And Land Cover Changes, And Environment And Risk Evaluation Of Dujiangyan City (Sw China) Using Remote Sensing And Gis Techniques, Biswajit Nath, Zheng Niu, Ramesh P. Singh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Understanding of the Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change, its transitions and Landscape risk (LR) evaluation in earthquake-affected areas is important for planning and urban sustainability. In the present study, we have considered Dujiangyan City and its Environs (DCEN), a seismic-prone area close to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (8.0 Mw) during 2007–2018. Five different multi-temporal data sets for the years 2007, 2008, 2010, 2015, and 2018 were considered for LULC mapping, followed by the maximum likelihood supervised classification technique. The individual LULC maps were further used in four time periods, i.e., 2007–2018, 2008–2018, 2010–2018, and 2015–2018, to evaluate the …

Preface: Workshop On Pesticide Exposure Assessment Paradigm For Non-Apis Bees, Richard Bireley, Shannon Borges, Karina Cham, David Epstein, Kristina Garber, Connie Hart, Wayne Hou, Alessio Ippolito, Jens Pistorius, Veronique Poulsen, Keith Sappington, Thomas Steeger

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Since the mid-2000s, increased annual losses of honey bee (Apis mellifera L., Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies and declines in some species of non-Apis bees have been reported (Biesmeijer et al. 2006, NRC 2007). These losses, particularly with respect to honey bees, have been associated with multiple factors including pesticides, pathogens (viruses, fungi, bacteria), pests (primarily the parasitic mite Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman [Arachnida: Parasitiformes: Varroidae]), poor nutrition, and bee management practices acting in combination (vanEngelsdorp et al. 2008, 2009; Ratnieks et al. 2010). Because of the role that bees play in providing pollination services to natural and agricultural-based ecosystems, …

Designing A Protected Area To Safeguard Imperiled Species From Urbanization, Stephanie S. Romanach, Brad Stith, Fred A. Johnson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Reserve design is a process that can address ecological, social, and political factors to identify parcels of land needed to sustain wildlife populations and other natural resources. Acquisition of parcels for a large terrestrial reserve is difficult because it typically occurs over a long timeframe and thus invokes consideration of future conditions such as climate and urbanization changes. In central Florida, the U.S. government has authorized a new protected area, the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge. The new refuge will host important threatened and endangered species and habitats, and will be located to allow for species adaptation from climate change …

Effectiveness Of Prescribed Fire On Meeting Fuel Load And Wildlife Habitat Management Objectives In East Texas National Forests, Trey Wall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using standardized methodology outlined by the United States Forest Service and the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas’ Fire Monitoring Program for data collection, the efficacy of current Forest Service prescribed burn regimes were analyzed for 24 study sites in East Texas National Forests. Study sites were located within Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, and Angelina/Sabine National Forests. Efficacy was determined by comparing defined management objectives established by the Forest Service to the data collected at the study sites. The results conclude that most objectives, as outlined by the Forest Service, are not being met with the current practices. Re-visitation of …